Water-motor.



A. E. McCAUGHEY.

WATER MOTOR. APPLICATION men FEB.25. 191s.

Patented Jan. 21, 1919.

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. a tive illustrating parts the numerals 5 and PATENT OFFICE- ALBERT E. MOCAUGHEY, OF BIRMINGHAM, WASHINGTON.

WATER-MOTOR.

I Application filed February 25, 1918. Serial N 0.

To all whom it may concern Be it known that I, ALBERT E. Mo- CAUGHEY, citizen of the United States, residing in Birmingham, in the county of Snohomish and State of Washington, have invented a certain new and useful Improvement in Water-Motors,of which the following is a specification. I

My invention relates to improvements in water motors of the class that are adapted to be operated by the current of a rapidly flowing stream of water and the object of my invention is to provide a water motor that is cheap and simple in construction and eflicient in operation.

A further object of my invention is to provide a water motor having flights that are mounted on endless chains or belts and are so arranged that they will be held in vertical planes and-present a broad surface to the current of water when on the lowermost side of the endless chain and will lie in substantially the uppermost side of the endless chain. A still further object of my invention is to provide simple and efficient means for holding the flights on the lower side of the water motor in substantially horizontal planes to render the motor inoperative or to .stop the motor without taking it out of .the current of water.

y invention consists in the novel construction, adaptation and combination of ,parts of a current motor as will be clearly hereinafter described and claimed.

I accomplish these objects by devices illustratedtin the accompanying drawings, whcrein- Figure 1 is a plan view of a current motor constructed in accordance with my invention the central portion of such motor being broken away;

Fig. 2 is a view in vertical cross-section substantially on broken line 2, 2 of Fig. 1;

Fig. 3 is a fragmentary sectional View of the: front end of the motor showing the lower flights held in an operative position; and

Fig. 4 is a fragmentary view in perspecadetail of my invention. eferring' to the drawings, throughout xwhich like reference numerals indicate like 6 designate the -:two side members of a float and 7 and 8 :designatecross-bars that are secured to the a horizontal planes when on' tion of the Specification 01 Letters Patent.

Patented Jan. 21', 1919. 219,147.

which may be connected a cable 10 that passes through a guide 11 on the end of a pole 12 and thence inwardly to a suitable point on the shore where it may be secured to a fixed support.

The pole 12 may be firmly embedded in Y the earth. on the shore and the outer end thereof may be secured to a fixed guy wire or cable 13 so that the pole12 forms a fixed support to which the current motor may be anchored.

Mounted upon the float adjacent to the end thereof, and journaled in suitable bearings 14, are two transversely arranged shafts 15 and 16, that are provided near their respective ends with sprocket wheels 17, 18, 19 and 20, of sufficient large diameter 'so that the lower peripheral portions thereof will be submerged in the water in which the motor in moored.

Operatively mounted upon the sprocket wheels 17 and 19, and extending therebetween, is an endless sprocket chain 21 and in like manner a similar sprocket chain 22 is mounted on sprocket wheels 18 and 20,

the two chains being parallel with each other and of equal length.

Extending crosswise between the two sprocket chains 21 and 22 are a plurality of shafts or bars 23, upon which are mounted flights 24, that are adapted to swing into different angular positions with respect to the sprocket chains, whereby, in response to the movement of the sprocket chains around the sprocket wheels, the flights will tend to hang in a vertical position from that portion of the chain that is below the sprocket wheels, and will tend to lie in a horizontal position on the top of that porehains that are above the sprocket wheels.

It will thus be seen that the lower flights the current of water, while the upper flights 2 1 will lie flat upon the sprocket chains and in case of heavy win s from an up stream direction will ofler comparatively small re sistance to the air in their movement from the rear to the front end of the float.

For the purpose of preventing the lower submerged flights 2st from swinging in a down-stream direction from the vertical position in response to the force exerted by the current of water, and in order that such force may be exerted directly against the broad, flat sides of the vertically disposed flights, each of' such flights is connected at points near its free edge with flexible connectors, as chains 26, that extend in an inclined position toward the up-stream end of the motor and are secured to the sprocket chains 21 and 22 so that the chains are taut and the flights will be supported thereby in a vertical plane.

" Whenthe device is anchored in a stream that is flowing in the direction indicated by the arrow A in Big. 2, the lower flights will present a flat surface to the water an be carried in the same direction therewith, while the upper flights will be carried by the sprocket chains in an opposite direction as chains 21 and 22 travel throughout their course, the flights 24. upon reaching the sprocket wheels 1.9 and 20 will be carried upwardly out of the water around such sprocket wheels and thence along on the top of the chains 21 and 22 to the sprocket wheels 17 and 18, and, as they pass around the sprocket wheels 17 and 18 they will be caused by gravity to change from a horizontal to a vertical position. As soon as they become submerged theywill be caught by the flowing water and forcibly carried toward the other end of the motor, thus constituting the means by which power for driving the motor is obtained from the flowing water.

To prevent sagging of the chains 21 and 22 between the sprocket wheels 17, 18, 19 I have provided idlers either rollers or small sprocket wheels and which are located between the two shafts 15 and 16 so that they will support the weight of the chains 21 and 22, and the flights that are connected there with.

To permit the use of an idler 27 below the lowermost span of the sprocket chains 21 and 22 it is necessary to form an offset portion 28 on each of the sprocket links 29 to which the cross-bars 23 are 'secured and to notch the flights sufficiently so that they will clear the idlers 26 as indicatedat 30 in Fig. 3, the outer ends of the flights being permitted to project sidewise, as indicated at 31, far enough so that they will rest on the top span of the sprocket chains and support the flights in substantially horizontal positions while they are moving from the down stream to the up stream end of the motor.

For the purpose of rendering the motor inoperative without removing it from the flowing water I have rovided a cable 32 that is rigidly connected at one end to the frame member 8, and extends underneath the flights, as shown in Fig. 2, to the opposite end of the frame, where it is wound upon a drum 33 having a shaft 34 that is journaled in suitable bearing brackets 35 on the crossbar 7, and is provided on one end'with a ratchet wheel 36 that is adapted to be engaged by a fixed pawl 37 which normally permits the rotation of the drum in one direction, to wind up thecable andmake it taut and prevent rotation of the drum in the opposite direction. 7

The shaft 34 upon which the drum 32 is secured is provided with a crank 38 by 5 which the drum 32 may be turned to wind up the cable and draw it taut below the flights 24, as shown in Fig. 3, so that the lower flights that are submerged in the current of water will be held in a substantially horizontal position and will offer slight resistance to the passage of the water instead of dropping into a vertical position and presenting their broad, flat sides to the current of water.

The cable 32 constitutes an important feaby its use the 'by a universal joint 39 with a shaft 10 which may extend to any suitable location to which the power is to be delivered.

It is obvious that this motor may bemade of any desired length and width and that various changes in the'form of construction of the several parts may be resorted to within the scope of the appended claims.

What I claim is: H

1. A current motor of the class described, comprising a support, sprocket wheels mounted thereon, two parallel endless sprocket chains movable on said sprocket wheels the lower portion of said chains being continuously submerged in a current of flowing water,flights each pivoted at one edge between said sprocket chains, flexible connectors secured to the free edge of each 7 of said flights and to said sprocket chains at a point removed from the pivoted edge of the flights to whose free edge theyare secured to limit the angular movement of said flights, and a cable extending lengthwise below said flights and adapted to be drawn taut whereby the lowermost of said flights 1 will be supported in a substantially horizontal position thereon.

wheels secured each of said shafts the lower peripheral portions of said sprocket wheels being submerged, two parallel endless sprocket chains operatively mounted on said sprocket wheels the lower portions of each of said sprocket chains being adapted to be continuously submerged, idlers for supporting said sprocket chains, a plurality of spaced flights each pivotally connected at one corner with one of said sprocket chains and at the opposite corner with the other of said sprocket chains whereby they may assume difi'erent angular position with respect to said sprocket chains, flexible means connecting the free ed e of each of said flights with said sprocket ciains and adapted to maintain the said flights in a vertical plane against the force of a cur rent of water in one direction, a secured to one end of said float and extending lengthwise thereof below said submerged flights and means at the other end of said float for exerting a tension on said cable to flowing water, a shaft rotatably mounted shafts in positions to revolve in vertical planes with the lower portion of their peripheries submerged, two endless parallel sprocket chains mounted on said sprocket wheels, a plurality of spaced apart flights each articulated to corresponding links of both of said sprocket chains to extend therebetween and adapted to swing outwardly therefrom, chains connected at one end to the free edge of said flights and at the other end to said sprocket chains and adapted to maintain the said flights in a Vertical plane against the force of a current of water when the said flights are submerged and a cable extending lengthwise of said frame below said submerged flights and adapted to be ti htened to lift said submerged flights into a horizontal position and render said motor inoperative.

In witness whereof, I hereunto subscribe my name this 18th day of February, A. D. 1918.

ALBERT E. MCCAUGHE Y.

Copies of this patent may be obtained for five cents each. by addressing the Commissioner of Patents,

' Washington, D. O." 

